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Show 2 Page A2 Thursday, July 31, 1986 Park Record Interconnect makes 'cents' It seems as if the issue has been around as long as the ski resorts that grace Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons Ca-nyons and the Park City Area. And, in a way, it has. The issue is whether or not to connect the ski areas. Over the years it has become known simply as the Interconnect. The issue is anything but simple, and sorting it out has taken a lot of time, money and hard work. Now it is time to find out just exactly what the public thinks about this Interconnect business. Meetings will be held in Park City, Ci-ty, Alta, Big Cottonwood Canyon and Salt Lake City. These meetings, which will be scheduled for sometime between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15, will give the opportunity for all of those with an opinion on the Interconnect to be heard. The issue is so old, and at times so hot that it seems everybody has an opinion which is good. t The $115,000 feasibility study conducted by the Utah Ski Association is finished. (The state of Utah contributed con-tributed $50,000 to the study and the Utah Ski Association came up with the rest of the funding.) It wasaa multipoint multi-point study that covered everything from "would anybody use it," to "how much will it cost and would it be cost-efficient." That's why it was called a feasibility study. So far the task force conducting the study has found that a $4.5 million project is the most feasible. It would include three new lifts, one that would run from the base of Brighton to Jupiter Bowl above Park City. This would connect Park City with Big Cottonwood Canyon. Another lift would run from Brighton's Millicent lift to Twin Lakes Pass. Skiers could then go down Grizzly Gulch to Alta or ski north to Solitude. The third lift would carry skiers from Alta back up to the Twin Lakes Pass area. These two lifts would connect Big Cottonwood Canyon Ca-nyon with Little Cottonwood Canyon. Originally a fourth lift was planned between Alta and Snowbird. But that lift has been put on the back burner because it is now fairly easy to get between the two resorts, and there is a possibility of expansion at Snowbird. Interconnect's time has come. In the future the competition com-petition for the skier dollar is going to become even more fierce. With airports springing up all over Colorado, the resort accessibility factor, which has historically been one of Utah's strongest selling points, is being lessened. Editorial Utah is going to have to have something special to entice tourists. The Interconnect is that something special. According to the feasibility study, the Interconnect would cause 486,800 more "skier days" for the resorts involved. The number of days spent in the area by tourists travelling more than 100 miles (destination skiers) would increase by more than one-third. It's an easy equation: Interconnect equals more skiers plus more money being pumped into Utah. Of course, Park City would benefit directly from the Interconnect. Local hotels, restaurants, ski resorts the list is as long as the list of businesses in the area. But the state would also benefit from the tax dollars gained from all these visitors. One major concern from skiers is that the Interconnect Intercon-nect would overcrowd the resorts and make it impossible impossi-ble to get on a lift. Actually, the system is aimed at filling fill-ing all those empty chairs that go up the mountain on many winter weekdays, and some non-holiday weekends. The feasibility study has been as comprehensive as possible. The task force has included such agencies as the ski resorts to environmental groups and the Forest Service in the study. In fact, the last major hurdle the Interconnect In-terconnect needs to clear before becoming a reality is getting an OK from the Forest Service. The Service is conducting an environmental impact study, which should be done within a month and is awaiting to hear from the public before it approves the Interconnect. So, if you'd like to wake up in Park City and without driving a car, ski at Alta for a half-day before making a run from the top of Jupiter back to Park City; or if you'd like to see one-third more destination skiers (which equals one-third more money) in the area; or if you would just like to see an exciting idea become reality, read your local newspaper, find out when the public meetings are and attend. The Interconnect needs us possibly as much as we need it. Appointee revives old war dispute Radio Free Europe, the U.S. government-financed broadcasting station, has poured salt on some old World War II wounds by its choice of a key official for the Slovakian-language service. He is Rev. Dusan Toth, appointed RFE's coordinator for Protestant Devotional Broadcasting to Czechoslovakia. The controversy has arisen because Toth is also executive secretary of the Slovak World Congress, Con-gress, which was founded years ago by refugees who included in-cluded former officials ofthe Nazi puppet "Slovak Republic" of World War II. Toth had no association with the Nazi-dominated regime or its leader, Father Joseph Tiso, a virulent anti-Semite anti-Semite who was executed as a war criminal in 1947. But the Slovak World Congress has steadfastly refused to repudiate the Tiso regime, and Toth has taken strong exception ex-ception to our recent column reporting the Democratic National Committee's embarrassment over "Slovak Independence In-dependence Day." We disclosed that by error, the committee had placed on its "ethnic calendar" the date in 1939 wfyen Adolf Hitler annexed the Czech half of Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich and set up Slovakia as a fascist state under Tiso. The date actually marked the end of the Czechnoslovak republic's two decades of independence. Toth doesn't see it quite that way. "Independence Day of Slovakia is deeply rooted in our history," he wrote, "and I cannot comprehend why you would stoop so low and print such a narrow summation. I truiy feel sorry for you. . .that you are so narrow-minded and incapable of finding even one positive fact regarding the Slovak Nation." Na-tion." We had no intention, of course, of criticizing the Slovak people, who were themselves victims of Hitler and Tiso. In fact, in 1944 thousands of gallant Slovaks rose up in revolt against Tiso, only to be gunned down with the help of German troops. Dozens of the rebels were hanged in the streets. We salute these martyrs to Slovak freedom, and regard the rebellion as a "positive fact" about the Slovak nation. Does Toth? Quite franky, we see nothing positive about the day when Tiso took over Slovakia as Hitler's devoted satrap. His Hlinka Guard, patterned after the Nazi SS, rounded up tens of thousands of Slovakian Jews, confiscated their property and packed them off to the death camps. "The Jew is a boil on the body of the Slovak nation, and we have to get rid of that boil," Tiso declared. Our associates Donald Goldberg and Corky Johnson have learned that Toth's appointment has aroused serious second thoughts in Congress, which decides who much funding Radio Free Europe gets. Though Toth has been praised by conservative Catholic political writer Michael Novak, his appointment has brought bitter criticism from others, who complain that Toth is not an Weekly Special by Jack Anderson & Joe Spear American citizen (he is Canadian) and is not a member of any official Slovak Lutheran organization in the United States. Rev. Jerry Mraz of the (Lutheran) Slovak Zion Synod told a House Appropriations Committee hearing last April that Toth's appointment "upsets the leadership and pastors" of the synod, and noted that the church group's "Professional Leadership Committee denied him membership in the svnod because of his involvement involve-ment with the (Slovak) World Congress." LIBERTY NOTES: Some politicians who were in New York for the Statue of Liberty celebration during the Fourth of July weekend found Gov. Mario Cuomo moodycand distant. He ignored some ofthe fundraisers and power brokers who could help him get the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988. Friends said Cuomo was upset because the attention being lavished on President Reagan, Lee Iacocca (a long-shot potential rival) and New York Mayor Ed Koch kept the governor from a major chance at the national spotlight. "The statue is part of New York state," groused one Cuomo loyalist. Skilled spotters at seven airports within easy striking distance of the Statue of Liberty used computerized lists of 293,000 privately owned airplanes' registration markers to guard against terrorism during the three-day three-day fete. With the lists, the spotters could identify instantly in-stantly the owners of any planes straying into the area where President Reagan, French President Francois Mitterrand and other dignitaries were gathered. FUDDLE FACTORY: Attorneys in the Justice Department's land acquisition section have been working work-ing a leisurely day, according to a July 2 memo from their assistant chief, Thomas P. Carolan. Some of them arrive at work an hour late; others leave early. "Unfortunately, "Unfor-tunately, the result when coupled with extended lunch hours is less than a seven-hour day," Carolan wrote. "It is apparent that a majority of the attorneys in this section sec-tion are engaging in this practice," he concluded. CONFIDENTIAL FILE: Cuban strongman Fidel Castro's official discouragement of religion is having a noticeable effect. The nation was once overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, but it is now less than half Catholic. There were 700 priests before the revolution; now there are only about 200. Fewer than half the children are baptized bap-tized and attendance at church services is closely monitored by the police. What do you think about the outdoor display law? (Asked to Main Street merchants.) Jane Schaffner, La Niche I think business should be able to have outdoor displays during specific times as long as there is control over what they look like. Jill Johnson, Tommy Knockers I'm in favor of it because it would be too difficult to control con-trol once you start making concessions to individual business, especially for the Arts Festival. I i trt-V i V'rriima t 7 A I Linda Myers, Sweaters Only I think it would be beneficial to have outdoor displays during the summer months to attract business. V ) Leanne Halbersleben, Leanne's I think the law is probably all right, but I wouldn't mind seeing businesses be able to put things out at certain times of the year. Greg Ferrell, Eating Establishment I think it's a good law because it prohibits people from putting everything on the sidewalk. Claire Weiss, Dolly's I think we should be allowed allow-ed to do something on specific occasions but not for the whole year because it would disrupt the quaintness of Main Street and make it look too commercial. The Park Record (USPS 0037-8370) is published weekly by the News Record Publishing Co., Inc. Second-class postage in Park City, UT 84060. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Park Record, 1670 Bonanza Dr.., Suite 202 P.O. Box 3688, Park City, UT 84060 Entered as second-class matter, May 25, 1977, at the post office in Park City, UT 84060, under the Act of March 3, 1897. Published every Thursday. News tips The Park Record welcomes news tips, day or night. Call 649-9014 and ask for Jim Smedley or Rick Brough. Office hours Business hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. UJLUCJ Deadlines Add Some Class, Bulletin Board: Monday, 5 p.m. Classified advertising: Monday, 5 p.m. Display advertising: (proof): Friday, noon, (no proof): Monday, noon Legal notices: Monday, 5 p.m. Letters to the Editor: Monday, 5 p.m. Night Music: Friday, 5 p.m. Personal Paragraphs: Monday, 5 p.m. Press releases: Monday, S p.m. Note: Deadlines may be altered during holiday weeks. 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